Police: Man choked girlfriend

June 6, 2013

By

Joseph B. Nadeau

LINCOLN â€“ Police charged a 47-year-old Railroad Street man with domestic assault by strangulation on his girlfriend following a disturbance early Wednesday morning in an apartment he shares with several other people.
Robert B. Williamson was also charged with domestic disorderly conduct and domestic refusal to relinquish the telephone in connection with the alleged domestic assault on his girlfriend during the incident.
Patrolman Jason Marquis reported that he responded to the Railroad Street apartment at 2:11 a.m. on Wednesday for a report of an ex-roommate banging on the door and refusing to leave.
Marquis made contact with one of several family members living there. Williamson and his girlfriend rent a room in the dwelling; he has lived there off and on for about a year, according to police. Williamson was reported to have been drinking earlier in the evening before the domestic incident began, Marquis reported.
The domestic assault began when Williamson allegedly jumped his girlfriend while she was in bed and began to choke her with his right hand while also trying to grab her cell phone, according to police.
Williamson was alleged to have taken the cell phone and caused the victim to feel like she was going to lose consciousness while he squeezed her neck â€śvery hard,â€ť according to police.
As the assault was occurring, one of the apartmentâ€™s residents, a 50-year-old man, was reported to come into the coupleâ€™s bedroom to break up the assault and grabbed Williamson around the head and neck from behind to stop him from choking the victim, police said. The two men fell to the floor and the intervening man was reported to have retained his hold on the suspect while getting up and bringing him to the door to push him out of the apartment. The victim told investigating officers she feared she would have been killed had the second man not intervened.
That man was later reported to have been stricken following the incident and was transported by rescue to Landmark Medical Center where he died, according to Police Chief Brian Sullivan.
Williamson later returned to the apartment and was taken into custody on the domestic assault charges and an outstanding warrant. He is being held at the ACI as a probation violator, Sullivan said.
Police were still investigating the death of the second man and awaiting the results of an autopsy to determine if it was related to the disturbance, according to Sullivan.
No additional charges had been lodged as of Thursday evening.